Guns and Arrows
by RockBane
Summary: Here's my ThanksGiving story entry for 2008. A record breaker at 92 pages long and a grand total of 17,064 words. A hint of RPG. None of the games used are real to my knowledge with the exception of D&D.


Guns and Arrows

**Guns and Arrows**

A Harry Potter Story

- o 0 o –

Summery**:** Here is my entry for Thanksgiving for 2008. This story started being typed on September 3rd, 2008 and is finished being typed on September 17th. So Enjoy! I also don't own Harry Potter in any shape or form.

- o 0 o -

Dobby

As a house elf, Dobby's purpose in life was to serve magic wielding humans, be they witches, what female humans are called, or be they wizards, what male humans are called. Though Dobby's currently employed at Hogwarts and therefore should be blindly loyal to the Headmaster of the school he wasn't as the house elf's true devotion lies with a young wizard named Harry Potter.

A young boy who gave Dobby the greatest gift he could have ever asked for, to be free of the Malfoys family. Which was why the house elf is currently searching through the Malfoy's attic, searching for a gift for Harry Potter's up coming birthday. After all, the Malfoys like pack rats, they don't really throw things out since such things could be found and used against them in some way, so they put all of their junk up in the attic which continues to expand magically to hold all the trash the family has collected over the years but didn't want to throw out just in case it's something that their enemies could viva some ritual or spellcraft.

The short form of Dobby sighs and leans on a stack of things that seem to be mostly books with a few boxes thrown in. As he ponders about the right gift to give the young wizard, Dobby puts a bit too much weight on the stack and it begins to fall. The house elf tries to re-balance the stack but it's too late, the whole stack begins to feel the pull of gravity and fall to the floor.

On box in particular hits him squarely on the head, causing him to cry out in pain before rubbing the spot as he bends down to look at what hit him. The top of the box had an image of what appears to be a battle going on between a group of brown skinned humans and pale humans with beards dressed in odd looking cloths while holding odd looking wands. "Guns and Arrows the board game." Dobby reads out loud and he suddenly grins, he found the perfect present for Harry!

Once Dobby finishes picking up the game, a snap of his fingers and the stack returns to its original form, and then he pops out of the attic, heading straight to Dursleys to deliver the game personally to his chosen wizard.

-(V)-

Harry Potter

"Happy Birthday, Mister Harry Potter!" The sleeping wizard wakes instantly on hearing Dobby's voice. "Dobby! What are you doing here? It's not even my birthday yet!" The young wizard known around the world as Harry Potter, aka the Boy-Who-Lived hisses at the jumping blur as the emerald eyed youth reaches for his glasses.

"Dobby be knowing this, sir, but Dobby thought that, considering all the negative press young Harry Potter is getting in the news paper that Harry Potter needed something to take his mind off of it, sir." Dobby explains, causing Harry to frown slightly as he pieces together what the house elf just said. "What a moment, what do you mean negative press?" Harry asks sharply as an alert expression appears on the young wizard's face, replacing the frown.

"Dobby can not remain too long; Dobby has spent all of last night searching for the right gift to give to Harry Potter. Dobby wishes Harry Potter a good morning and a hearty farewell!" Dobby the house elf says and then with a simple snap of his fingers, the magical being vanishes, leaving Harry alone in his room, very confused as to what just happened.

"Guns and Arrows the board game; experience the Wild West without ever leaving the safety of your home." Harry reads the top of the old wooden box that's covered with a thin layer of dust and grime.

With a sigh, Harry puts the game on his trunk before trying to get back to sleep before the Dursleys wake and he's forced out of the house.

- x – X – x -

As Harry paces around the bedroom for an eighth round, he snarls slightly and kicks his trunk. It takes him a few minutes to cool down and then Harry moves over to his trunk to see if he packed the game Dobby have given him the week after he returned to the Dursleys.

After glancing at the bedroom door, Harry begins to rummage through the trunk until he spotted the wooden case that the game is kept in. Harry's emerald gaze softens as he looks at the top of the box, after all, he's never owned his own game board before, true he owns a set of wizarding chess figures but that just didn't seem to matter to him since it's among the more popular games that can be found among Hogwarts students.

It also helps that Dobby got him this game to try and cheer him up and he resolves to do just that. About then does he realise that he'll need better light then what's available in this room. Harry carries the game in the crock of his arm and heads out of the room.

Harry's careful not to make much noise as he heads down stairs. A quick check in the dinning room shows that it's empty and he hurriedly enters into the room. Once he sets the game on the table top, Harry gives the room another quick survey before opening the wooden box.

The hinges were pretty rusty and got stuck a few times as well as squeaked one or twice, but one the box was open did the young wizard take a serious look inside. He finds a thick pad of paper that seems to be called a Character Sheet. Harry picks that up and is surprised to note that unlike the box that it's resting it, the paper looks fairly fresh.

Putting that aside, Harry finds a folded bit of what appears to be leather. Harry places that on a free space next to the box and unfolds the slightly stiff leather. The young wizard notices that the leather seems to be the playing mat, although it lacks something but Harry didn't know what exactly.

With a sigh, Harry continues rummaging through the box, pulling out six figurines, an instruction booklet on how to work the game board, and about four manuals. Leaving off the manuals, Harry picks up the almost ratty looking instruction booklet for the leather gaming board and begins to read it, luckily, on him opening the booklet, it flashes and the words rearrange themselves as the paper goes from the touch of yellow it was when he picked it up to the usual white. He blinks a few times before shrugging; after all, it only makes it easier for him to read it.

Its not long before he's done reading the booklet and he grins happily at the fact that he won't ever have to use the same map twice, after all, that would get boring after a while, playing on the same looking board again and again. Once Harry puts down the booklet, he takes out his wand from his pocket and taps the leather gaming sheet once.

Like the booklet describes, different options appeared at the center of the sheet. The options were the upper regions of Canada and where Alaska were, then from there were temperate regions, and finally, tropical regions that covered around Mexico and all of South America. Harry touches the tip of his wand to the snowy tundra and muses himself by checking out the different maps under that options, he's chose a random lay out and within seconds he's got the option of starting the game in one of the four different seasons.

Harry grins as he back tracks to the previous options, his anger with his friends and the adults of the Order of the Phoenix were temporarily forgotten as he fools around with his latest possession. After about thirty minutes, Harry has picked out the settings of the game and then glances at the game pieces before looking at the four slightly ratty manuals.

The first manual is entitled Game Basics for Guns and Arrows. Much like the booklet, once Harry opens the cover of the leather bound book, the letters rearrange themselves as the quality of the paper gets better. This manual covers how to fill out your Character Sheet, there's a brief introduction to what kind of tribes and nations you can have your character be from, it also introduction the concept of careers that one can have if you decide to play either a member of a tribe of Native Americans or a European coming to the 'New World', and then it goes over the gear you can start with.

Using the book, Harry takes a Character Sheet from the pad and begins to fill it out. The Boy-Who-Lived checked the box next to Indian; this was the part is asking which 'race' he plans to play. He leaves off picking a name just yet and moves to fill out most of the sheet, the parts that were covered in the first manual. For example for age, he decided to put nineteen down, in the part asking for defining marks he takes a few seconds before detailing a knife scar covering the left side of his face, saying that its slightly lighter in colour then the rest of his skin.

When Harry got to the part asking for a history, he's stumped about what to write in that. A quick look over the front part and he realised that he might as well start reading the manual titled Tribes and Nations. In this manual was everything the player needed to know about the multiply Native tribes as well as the European nations, what kind of benefits you got by playing a member and what kind of profession they suggest.

By the time he finished skimming most of the Native tribal listings did he get the feeling that these spirits that were described were more then just religious icons and after flipping to the back of the tribal section, he got it confirmed. It seems that while players like him were heavily restricted about what kind of roles that were there for Native tribes to have filled, for example, one can be a trader, pretty much describes that role, a warrior/hunter, once more self descriptive, and then you got the general category of shaman, which dealt heavily in not just calling forth the elements but also you have to do quests for these spiritual beings to learn those 'spells' as well as finding a primary spirit that would help increase said spellcasting effectiveness.

The role of a shaman was highly important and had all sorts of benefits but it also had its draw back since Dreaming could take more then a day to complete and even then the shaman might not get anything that could help him in fulfilling the game's goal, which was to arrive at the marked site with certain items. But since the shaman spends more time wandering world of Spirits, the shaman tends to be physically weakest out of the three roles.

The role of the hunter/warrior was mostly physical in nature, though they lacked the massive amounts of spiritual allies that a shaman, they are able to seek out a spirit guide but the relationship between them were very different then with the shaman. For one thing, the spirit guide gives the hunter/warrior physical bonuses like the stealth of a cat or a sharper sense of smell or hearing and allows for very minor spellcasting like using a Far Sight spell or a minor animal summoning ritual. Though there is a down side to playing a hunter/warrior and that is general hostility when in neighbouring tribes' territories and that is because out of the three, this role is the lowest when it comes to people skills.

Finally the role of the trader lacks pretty much all spiritual abilities, is between the other two roles in physical abilities, and excels in people skills. They also tend to be the wealthiest out of the three but then, they need to be since they do trade items for other items, like a buffalo skin for five fine white pots which in turn could be traded for something else. Traders have a minor language bonus that helps learning local tribes languages easier as well as local customs, which also helps allows the player to get the items needed as well as get through territories faster then the other two roles.

As Harry's about to read the next part, the one that details the European nations, he hears a bunch of chatter walking out in the hall. Quickly, Harry manages to put everything back in the box and kicks it under the table as Ron and Hermione enter into the room. The silence between them reminds the teenage wizard why he had been reading up on his new game, to forget about the feelings of betrayal between him and his friends.

It wasn't long before the twins arrive with their sister. The twins begin to fill the silence between them as they settle down at the table. It seems that suppers about to be served and those that were staying for dinner began to file into the room.

He really would have preferred to finish filling out his character sheet but then, that would mean that somebody might take it away and have it taken apart to make sure it wasn't cursed or something along those lines. Harry couldn't help it if on thinking about that, he subtlety glares in his bushy haired friend's direction before returning to glaring spitefully into the table top.

- x – X – x -

Two days have passed since Harry started on his character sheet and he's managed to find time to finish reading Tribes and Nations, followed by Guide to Spirits & Metal Beasts, and he's currently trying to finish up the final manual called Wilderness Guide.

Harry feels much more confided in his ability to fill out the rest of the blank areas on his sheet. So, once more slipping away from his friends and god-father, Harry has the game laid out on the dinning room table with his wand resting next to the leather game board. Harry was privately pleased to note that the gaming map had been saved so he didn't have to go through those options again.

He's finally chosen a name for his character, Elkrider. He had chosen his tribe is the fictional Dusoka, a tribe known for their fine ceremonial clay bowls and his character's role in his tribe, trader. Harry decided to trade in his war club for a guard dog that he has decided to named Ash, it seems like a good trade since the dog is suppose to act like an alarm system and help drive off would be robbers and rogue spirits.

As he fills in his skills, he makes sure to have a point in wordcraft, which should help him in talking encounters, when two twin cracks sound out and he hears the twins, Fred and George, chat behind him.

"What has our dear friend have here? Looks like somebody's planning on escaping, doesn't it Fred?" George muses to the right of him. "That it does, George that it does. Although, how he expects that map to be of any help is beyond me." Fred muses to his left.

"It's a game, not an escape plan." Harry states as he tries to busy himself by finishing off his skills. "A game you say, what kind of game?" George wonders as the twins take seats on either side of him.

"It's a game of Cowboys and Indians in the Wild West. You get to choice between being a European or being part of one of the fictional Native tribes. The goal is simple, get the right items to the ending point and the game will end but you have to worry about not just hostile companies of European explores and Native tribes, but also rogue spirits as well as rogue metal contraptions that the Europeans constructed him hopes of countering the spiritual entities that help and support the Native tribes." Harry explains to the Weasley twins.

"Sounds promising." Fred muses and after a bit, Harry finds himself explaining how to fill out a character sheet, what benefits one got by playing as either of the two types of people. He went on to explain about the subdivisions in each as well as what roles one can play under each types of people.

About twenty minutes later, Fred decided to play a Frenchman named Leon Benoit who's an Engineer. George's character is a member of fictional tribe of Natives called Notca named Stalker of Night Spirits and is a Shaman. As Fred and George finish adding their personal touches to their character's history, Ron and Hermione who were followed by his god-father Sirius.

"What are you guys doing now?" Hermione asks in an exasperated way while Sirius was already at the table, looking at the leather mat that's the game board. "It's a game Harry owns called Guns and Arrows, a game of Cowboys and Indians." George says.

"They prefer to be called Native Americans or First Nations." Hermione says and begins to lecture about political correctness, not even noticing as Ron and Sirius asking the twins for help to create their own characters, leaving him to toy with the map, as he goes around setting up the lists of rogue spirits and metal constructs that he wants in the game.

Harry uses the manual Guide to Spirits & Metal Beasts to decide what kind of rogues he wanted to use. Considering the climate that the map is set to he can't use certain rogues due to climate. So, he chose from the rogue spirit lists horned serpents, man eating stone skinned beings that the game calls Wi'Nun, and evil cat like beings styled after bobcats and lynxes called Ulhanoe. From the rogue metal beast list he chose Runty Copper Bears, Steel Plated Berserker Bulls, and Jolt Hounds.

True, he can't chose where on the map they'll spawn from, but at least he knows what they're up against monster wise. Harry watches as his bushy haired friend toss her hands up in exasperation before joining the group creating characters. It wasn't long before a split occurred with three having decided to be Europeans and three having Native characters. Ron decided to be an English soldier named James Hunter as Hermione decided to be an English doctor named Mary Dennison while Sirius decides to be Chupi hunter/warrior named Streamhawk.

"Ok, so what next?" Ron asks and the Boy-Who-Lived says, "We put those figurines on that map and wait for the next step." He waves at the six tiny wooden figurines that lack details. "Already then." Sirius says and before somebody could stop him, Sirius Black picks up the figurines and puts them on the map.

Within seconds the six tiny figurines separate into two groups of three. One group goes to the south-eastern corner of the map while the other group goes to the center of the map and then straight west, to the edge of the map. That group also gets a tiny addition to the group, which is likely symbolizing his guard dog, Ash.

As the tiny figures begin to glow, Harry hears his friend, Ron call out, "Hey Ginny, Dad! Check out this game Harry found!" Then the light from the figurines gets brighter and suddenly, he feels a pull in his gut, not unlike what happens when he travel by Portkey that one time.

As Ginny screams and Mr Weasley calls out in alarm, Harry finds himself standing in the middle of a meadow. "Bloody Hell!" He hears George or Stalker of Night Spirits, Stalker for short, call out in amazement. The large tan dog with a wagging tail named Ash barks out in greeting as the dog remains standing over their supplies.

"So then, which direction do you two want to head in?" He asks Sirius, AKA Streamhawk, and George, AKA Stalker of Night Spirits.

-(V)-

Arthur Weasley

Arthur walked into the dinning room with his daughter, it was Sunday so he had the day off. "Hey Ginny, Dad! Check out this game Harry found!" His youngest son calls out as light emanates from six pieces on this leather mat.

Then suddenly, the light expands and as Ginny screams, Arthur calls out for the other adults to come into the dinning room. Once the light fades, he finds that all six of those that had been around the table have vanished, leaving six sheets of paper to glow softly for a few seconds.

By the time Arthur's wife arrives into the dinning room, the elder Weasley walks up to the table and after giving the sheets a glance, his focus turns to the leather mat that seems to a kind of map. Two groups of three were at different points on the map. The tiny figurines seemed to look a great deal like the six that have just vanished in the light.

"What is it dear?" Molly Weasley asks as Ginny hugs her. "We need either Albus or Minerva to look at this game that Ron said Harry found." Arthur tells his wife and Molly looks surprised and then looks around for the two teens. "They got sucked up into the game." Ginny says and he nods in agreement with what their daughter has just said. Molly pales on hearing that.

-(V)-

Ron Weasley – James Hunter

"What the Blood Hell just happened?" Ron shouts out as the grey eyed, blond haired thirty-four year old man known as James Hunter, AKA Ron Weasley, paces around the small patch of trees. His brother Fred Weasley, AKA a twenty-three year old black haired man known as Leon Benoit, seems busy doing an inventory of what they have.

Hermione, AKA Mary Dennison, a thirty-one year old red head woman just sighs as she watches as the soldier paces around. "Calm down, Ron. I'm sure it's not that bad." The doctor says, trying to get him to stop pacing.

"Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when we're characters in a game that we barely know anything about?! I think I'm plenty calm!" He shouts at her, waving his arms around.

"I think we got a good chance of making it out of here, after all, Harry did give George and me a very detailed explanation about what this game is about. And besides, I have the list of five items we need to collect before we head to the end point. It also helps that Mary here is a doctor and I'm an engineer, which means I can make us some mechanical transport once I'm at level ten." Leon, AKA Fred Weasley, says and it takes Ron a few moments to realise that his own brother had a slight accent.

"And how to we level up?" James asks the Frenchman that was and yet wasn't his older brother. "By either through battle or by our interactions with the Non-Playable Characters." The raven haired Leon says. "This is beginning to sounding a bit like Dungeons & Dragons." The red haired woman doctor muses.

"Dungeons & Dragons?" Both Weasley's asks at the same time as Leon looks up from his bag. "It's a fantasy role playing game. You fill out a character sheet not unlike the one we did for our characters, only instead of having only full-blooded humans to choice from, you had half breeds like being half dragon, half elf, half demon, and etc with your lycanthropes like werewolves, werecats, and etc then finally, you got the other full blooded races like humans, dwarfs, elves, and etc. Then you got alignments like Chaotic Evil, Lawfully Evil, Chaotic Neutral, Lawfully Neutral, Chaotic Good, and Lawfully Good." Mary lists, stopping for a breath before continuing.

"Then you have classes like wizards, thieves, rangers, fighters, priest, and paladins, just to name a few. Some times you can multi-class like be a thief as well as a fighter with your experience getting divided between the two classes, like for example, one could have a level three fighter and also have a level four thief." Mary says, Leon and James just exchange looks, privately the Englishman is glad they weren't playing that game since it sounds even more complicated then what game their in now.

"Maybe we can try that game next." Leon muses and James shoots the Frenchman a dirty look while Mary nods thoughtfully. "I'm sure I can get a hold of the right kind of manuals." His fellow English country person says.

"So then, I guess we'll be heading northwest then, since I'm sure we're the group that was sent to the far bottom corner of the map." Leon muses as the younger man hands over their packs.

James takes the long stick looking thing with metal on it. "Hey, what's this?" The blond man asks and the red head answers, "That's a flint lock gun. You point it at what you want to kill and press that trigger there. Though, they're only good for a single shot before you have to put gun powder and a bullet into it. I really don't know how it works but you likely know since your character should be familiar with it."

With a sigh, James shoulders the strap of the gun once the packs on his shoulders. The sword goes to his belt; he finds much more comfort in the sight of the thin sword then in the gun resting on his shoulder. Leon holds up a compass and after finding which way is north, they start off in that direction, hoping that they'll find the items quickly so they can leave even more quickly.

-(V)-

Harry Potter – Elkrider

About three days into the game, they encounter a group of low level Ulhanoe, likely just whelps since Ulhanoe adults reach six feet in height, possess sabre fangs, glowing green eyes, and were light blue with red spots like a leopard or jaguar. Standing about four feet in height, they were dark green in colour with brown stripes.

Once they're dead, the bodies fade away, leaving behind loot in the form of valuable necklaces, fine fur pelts of bobcats or lynxes, and some heath restoring herbs. They split the loot among themselves before they continue on their way, keeping an eye out for more Ulhanoe since they'll likely encounter more of them. Elkrider does note that they were getting close to a village, he just doesn't know of which tribe though.

"So, do you think we'll find what we need at this first stop?" The twenty-four year old Streamhawk, AKA Sirius asks as they move through the forest, the encounter with the Ulhanoe had them level up by two levels, making them level three. "We might have to do a quest to get the information we need." Elkrider muses as sixteen year old Stalker hums in agreement.

Ash pauses at the front of their group, head cocking to the side before whining at something before them. They arrive in time to witness an army of pup aged and whelp aged Ulhanoe attacking the village. "Might as well help out." Streamhawk muses as his war club moves from his belt into his hand while Elkrider readies his bow while Stalker takes out a prayer rattle.

With a war cry, Streamhawk charges in to the closest line of Ulhanoe as Elkrider takes aim before letting loose an arrow. Ash sticks close, guarding them from close combat since either Stalker and him were any good beyond range combat. As Streamhawk's club bashes a whelp in the head, Elkrider's arrow flies into a throat of a pouncing Ulhanoe pup trying to attack a fallen defender.

Balls of lightning would hit one Ulhanoe pup before a chain of lightning would snake from that hit pup to the surrounding Ulhanoe. A few Ulhanoe got attacked by Ash for getting too close, signalling for either Stalker or himself to focus on attacking an Ulhanoe trying to get pass Ash.

Slowly, the number of Ulhanoe keep getting lower and the defenders then rally among themselves for one final push. Only a few Ulhanoe fled the last charge, Elkrider managed to kill two of the fleeing whelps while Stalker's lightning ball destroyed the last of the Ulhanoe pups. The bodies of the dead Ulhanoe soon faded revealing the loot they've earned.

The defenders moved through the battle field, picking up their loot as they move forwarded to collect their loot, which wasn't grey in colour. Before they were greeted by one of the villagers, they got a count how many beaded necklaces, belts, and shirts they got as loot, though they did get some energy herbs that were likely meant for Stalker and Streamhawk since those two were the ones who could use spiritual energy.

"Greetings strangers, I am Hunter of Vests, son of the War Chief, Tracking Rabbits in Water." Hunter of Vests says and Elkrider moves to clasp hands with the man. "I am Elkrider a trader, the one wearing red paint is warrior Streamhawk, and finally, Stalker of Night Spirits, a shaman. We are glad to have arrived in time to aid your defenders against the Ulhanoe." Elkrider says with a slight smile on his scarred face and they left go of each other's arms while Hunter of Vests nods, giving the other two members studying looks before motioning them to follow him.

"Come, Chief Standing Rock and my father wish to personally thank you for assisting us in battle." Hunter of Vests says and so they followed the man through the ruined wooden fence, they glanced around as they move through the streets leading around the wooden huts; some of them had colourful wooden statues at their entrance into their dwellings.

They arrived at the center of the village and found a group of elders standing around there. Hunter of Vests introduces Elkrider and his friends to the group of elders. "I bring you Trader Elkrider, Warrior Streamhawk, and Shaman Stalker of Night Spirits. To the left is Elder Hot Rain, next to her is Elder Goose Hunter, next to him is Elder Old Hawkeye, and next to him is our Shaman, Sight of Puma." Hunter of Vests pauses here as Sight of Puma says, "I hope you'll share my fire tonight, Stalker of Night Spirits. I think I might have a trick or two to share with you."

Stalker nods and Hunter of Vests continues, "This is Chief Standing Rock and my father, War Chief Tracking Rabbits in Water." "Greetings young ones." Chief Standing Rock says while War Chief Tracking Rabbits in Water just nods before saying, "Warrior Streamhawk, I'll be saving a spot for you at my fire tonight."

Streamhawk nods and once more, Hunter of Vests introduces the last three elders. Once the introductions were done, Chief Standing Rock begins speaking. "Welcome to Humming Bird village, we are thankful for your help in driving the Ulhanoe away. Sadly, we weren't expecting an attack this soon and therefore we were highly unprepared for an attack." Chief Standing Rock says and takes a pause before continuing, "We would like to ask if you're willing to attack the Ulhanoe den for us. We're willing to offer anything in exchange for your serves."

Once more Elkrider acts as the spokesperson for the group. "We are currently questing for five items and perhaps you can help us in finding them." Elkrider, aka Harry, says and a thoughtful look enters into the Chief's eyes for a few seconds before finally nodding in agreement.

"Sounds like a good trade. Very well then, tomorrow I'll have Hunter of Vests Guide you three to the Ulhanoe den." Chief Standing Rock says and after that, the Chief and himself begin to about the surrounding tribes, what kind of goods they prize, and then he got a warning about white men being spotted in the area over the last few seasons.

With that, it signals the end of their conversation and the elders disperse to their huts or going about the business of helping with repairing the wooden fencing. Stalker heads off to chat with the local shaman as Streamhawk heads off to chat with the War Chief, leaving him to go chat with the locals.

It takes a bit but he finally found a local who's willing to take a look at his wares. Once he got rid of the beaded clothing for some local made items, like more arrows, better leather clothing, a club for him to use. He then got some information about who to talk with for more herbs, leading him to pay a visit to the Elder Hot Rain to exchange the necklaces he has for more healing herbs, poison curing herbs, and energy herbs.

With that, Elkrider heads off to flirt with some young women since he gets experience points from doing so. He also got more information as well as a request to go out and fill a basket with a certain type of berry. By the time he returns to the village, its evening and at the center of the village, a large fire blazing. Once Elkrider hands over the basket of berries, he got a pendent of health from the woman and then joins the rest of his group around the fire once he puts the pendent around his neck.

As Elkrider sits next to Hunter of Vests, he can't help but wonder how much time has passed since the game started.

-(V)-

Ginny Weasley

After being shooed out of the room by the adults, Ginny finds herself at loose ends as to what to do now that she's alone, without anybody around her age to hang out with. As she sets in a chair by the fireplace, she watches as adults come into the house, heading straight for the dinning room with only the shortest of greetings being sent her way.

The young red head tries to make sense of what happened but she just felt so numb about it all. After a few hours, the adults began to file out of the dinning room; it seems that they weren't able to get the six out of the game. As she listens to the adults talk, Ginny slowly formulates her own plan on what to do.

-(V)-

Fred Weasley – Leon Benoit

_I should have chosen to be a Native, at least then I won't have to put up with James' whining._ Leon muses, its been nine days since they arrived in the world of the game and while he's still in awe over the amount of detail the creators of the game when into to, Leon would have preferred better company then his youngest brother.

Over the course of the days, they've been attacked by creatures called Jolt Hounds, rogue metal dog looking machines made out of mixed metals that were slowly getting stronger through each encounter they had with the artificial beasts. Yesterday they joined up with a Native trader who had run afoul with the latest wave and they managed to save the man. Over the course of the night, they managed to get some directions to the spawning lair so they can assault it and put an end to the waves for once and for all.

James didn't want to go through with the assault, wanting them to head to a village to get help. But both Mary and him pointed out that they don't speak the local language and its likely that any local tribes they encounter will be hostile towards them simply because they were white. It helps that Leon's ability to construct mechanical minions has increased enough that they can have a pack of eight Bolt Hounds, similar to Jolt Hounds only they look more polished, had more armour, and served humans instead of attacking them on 'sight'.

Leon had found plans to create some kind of bird like construct called a Buzz Wing, he decides to wait until after they've attacked the spawning den since that would increase their loot as well as gain a level to two from destroying the den. Leon can now create bombs, not big ones yet but the kind about the size of a man's fist. He gave Mary the bulk of them since unlike him, the doctor needs to be far from the fighting and though he directed one of his Bolt Hounds to cover her, he's still worried that something can happen to her.

-(V)-

Ginny Weasley

It's been about nine hours since the six vanished into the game map and nobody was wake at this hour since Molly declared it an early night not that is going to stop Ginny.

As the young red head down the stairs, as she enters, Ginny finds Remus Lupin in the room already writing something down. "What are you doing?" Ginny asks the greying man and the werewolf hurriedly covers the paper he was writing on.

"What are you doing here Ms Weasley? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Professor Lupin asks her. "I think about the same thing you're doing, sir." Ginny says and the weary man smiles slightly as he says, "I see."

As the man turns back to his sheet, Ginny moves to where the leather map is, for the first time, she sees just how tiny the figurines were. "Have these been moved?" She wonders as Ginny cocks to the side.

"I won't know but, yes, something seems to be different since I saw them for the first time." Remus says once he stops writing on that piece of paper and joins her at watching what's going on with the figurines. "I wonder…" Ginny muses as she reaches to touch the tiniest piece with the group farther up on the map.

"Ginny, don' touch it!" The adult shouts, startling Ginny enough that her finger slams down on the smallest figurine. **"Interference has occurred, now punishment shall occur."** A booming voice says and within moments, the map glows as Ginny feels a tug in her midsection.

Within seconds, Ginny finds herself in a rocky area with Remus. The older wizard's cloths have undergone a transformation and, when she looked down at her own to find that, they too, were different. "Blood Hell, get down!" A new voice calls out and suddenly, a metal pile moves and charges at her.

Within seconds, a blond man with a sword descends out of the cover of some bushes, charging down at the moving pile of rubble. Ginny moves to the right as metal jaws snap at her. Without knowing how or why, she takes hold of an axe and slashes at the moving metal pile.

Her axe digs into the thing's shoulder and the thing begins to glow blue until the blond arrives and cuts the thing's head off once she gets her axe out of the things shoulder. Within seconds, the pile of junk fades and reveals chunks of metal as well as a few beaded necklaces.

"You alright, Ginny?" The blond man asks with a very concerned look on his face. "I think so, but, who are you? And what was that thing?" Ginny asks and the blond suddenly looks like she just killed his puppy or something. "He's, if I'm right, Ron, your brother." Remus muses as the man joins them.

The blond nods in agreement. "If you think I look strange, you should see Leon… I mean Fred. Heck, even Hermione looks different as; for one thing, she's now a red head can is called Mary for the duration of the game it seems." Her now blond brother says as the man runs his left hand through his shaggy blond hair.

"Well, come on, we might as well pull back as more Jolt Hounds will likely be coming this way." The man says and in the end, she follows the blond, very sure she doesn't want to encounter more things like that junk pile. As she shoulders her pack, she takes some time to study the axe that in her hand.

"Ok, why do I have this?" Ginny wonders after a few minutes. "If I was to take a guess, I'd say you're a settler/trapper and I'm likely a trader since that's the last class that needed to be filled." Remus muses and she turns to study the older wizard.

"Your packs are larger and instead of a gun, you're carrying a bow." Ginny states and Ron turns to give Remus a glance before returning to leading them where the other two member of the party were.

A few minutes pass and they join up with Fred and Mary. "Hey James, I see you picked up some minions, huh?" The black haired man with a hint of an accent calls out. Ginny turns to look at the blond, surprised that her brother would chose that for a name.

"Leon, where's _your_ minions?" James asks and Leon grins as the younger looking man answers, "I sent the Bolt Hounds out to patrol the area. So, you have seen the spawning den?"

"I have, we shouldn't have many problems if we through the bombs at the right spots. Though I still say we should try and get help from the locals." James says, she sighs as she hears that tone. "I say we just might do that later since I'm guessing one of the two of you fills the slot of trader, right?" Leon asks while the red head finishes sorting through her equipment and joins in the conversation with a slight smile and nod in her direction.

"I'm the trader, I did manage to fill some of my own character sheet before Ginny tried to interfere with the game, though I hadn't manage to fill out my name, age, description, nationality, or selected any specially equipment which should mean that I have the game's version of money since I didn't 'spend' much of it in the way of equipment." Remus says and the others nod in acknowledgement.

"I guess Ginny never got the chance to fill anything out then?" Mary hazarded a guess. Ginny flushes in embarrassment as she nods. "Well, I'm sure we can fill you in on what's what. Although, how long have we been in here?" Mary asks and she shares a look with Remus. "I don't know, maybe twelve hours?" She guesses.

"It's been nine days for us! You're saying that a day hasn't passed back at the house?!" James explodes and already she's regretting saying that.

-(V)-

Harry Potter – Elkrider

"I can't believe it was in that Wi'Nun spawning lair!" Stalker says once more as the shaman holds the fist sized crystal that is bright teal in colour. It's been twenty days since they arrived within the game and they managed to get the second item that they needed.

"Just three more and we'll be heading home." Streamhawk muses and Elkrider nods in agreement as Stalker pockets the stone. "I guess that week we waited for you to get your spirit guide paid off, huh?" Elkrider muses and Stalker nods in agreement.

"My inventory of spells have grown in not just number but in intensity." Stalker agrees. "Just in time for our encounter of those stone-skins, lucky that." Streamhawk says thoughtfully. "Well, it wasn't as if we had much choice in the matter. Shaman Talks with Birds was threatening to drug us to keep us from interfering with the vision quest. Not that I mind, we managed to do minor tasks for the local War Chief and the Chieftain. Since doing them made it easier for us to pass through the rest of Alnque territory." Elkrider points out as they continue to follow Ash along the trail.

"Though I'm not at all surprised that you end up with a crow for a spirit guide, you are a very curious person." Streamhawk muses while Stalker rolls his eyes and shoves Streamhawk slightly in the shoulder. "Well then, I guess we already know what your spirit guide will be, don't we, Elkrider?" Stalker says to him and he grins as he nods.

"Uh huh, a black fox just screams, Streamhawk." Elkrider says causing his god-father to erupt in a loud, "Hey!" Elkrider sobers up as the silence overtakes them.

"You know, Streamhawk, you kind of got your wish." Elkrider says. "How so?" The warrior asks. "Well, won't you say you're 'outside' of your family's house?" The trader muses. "You got a point there, Elkrider. I guess I'm going to miss having all this space to wander around in." Streamhawk says.

"Perhaps Fred and myself will be able to figure out how to make something similar to this. I'm sure we could make a pretty penny selling a garden the size of a whole country." Stalker muses. Silence once more descends around them for the next few minutes.

"You must miss him, I mean, you two were pretty inseparable until this game began." Streamhawk says softly. "I do miss him, but it's kind of interesting to learn to depend on myself. This is a very unique experience for the both of us. I'm sure if we had the chance to repeat it, we would have done it pretty much the same." Stalker says and Elkrider nods thoughtfully. "I have to admit, it's nice to do something like this with new people, I don't mean to say that Ron and Hermione are… Well, there are times when I wonder how I can stand some of their bad habits."

Elkrider doesn't say anything for a few minutes, trying to find the right words to describe how they annoy him. "I know Hermione is smart but, it gets tiring when she quotes what she learnt from the books that she's read. I also can't forget that she did inform Professor McGonagall about my Firebolt. I know she was doing it for my benefit but… it was my gift and it should have been my decision to inform Professor McGonagall. She's got this thing about authority figures… It's as if just suggesting that somebody could abuse their position is like some kind of sin with her at times." He says as he takes a few seconds to recollect his thoughts.

"I had noticed that… aspect of her from what little time I've spent in her company." Streamhawk admits as Stalker sighs. "Must take the fun out of searching for your own answer, huh?" Stalker adds and Elkrider can't help but agree.

"And well Ron… He's kind of… lazy, which I guess has rubbed off on me. He's also not the neatest person around. I mean, I did read this book once about rats and I think it talked about how rats pee as they travel around, and well… Scabbers, I know he was an Animagus and all but still, Ron _never_ washed _his_ hands after holding him and he carried that rat pretty much everywhere." Elkrider says and out of the corner of his eye, he sees the grossed out look on Stalker's face. Elkrider could only imagine the look on Streamhawk's face.

"So between Hermione's ready answers and Ron's laziness, you've never once felt the need to pick up a book and read it just for the hell of it?" Streamhawk asks and after a few seconds of thinking it over, Elkrider nods. "I think that sums it up, I mean, other then reading books on Quidditch and skimming over most of my course books, yea, I've never picked up a book just to read it for entertainment purposes or to find out more about a subject then just hear about it from Hermione." The trader admits.

"This is a rather touché subject and I can't really give you any straight answers on how to life you life, but, really Elkrider, its up to you to change the status quo now that you know about these problems. I'm sure you'll find some kind of solution to your problems by the time we're done in here. After all, you do have to live life the way you want it, and I don't like how Dumbledore keeps trying to back you into a corner." Streamhawk holds up his hand before Elkrider could protest, even if he privately agrees with his god-father that the headmaster only adds to the problem then helps solves it.

"Yes, I know, he's the great Albus Dumbledore, but he's also an old man who's getting on in years. He's forgetting that you're not a baby any more but a young teenager with a large independent streak, something I think a lot of us adults keep forgetting, myself included. It likely doesn't help that we keep sending you to the Dursleys when it's pretty clear that they're… abusive and I don't need to hear about how it's **your** fault that they hit you or what not, it's not only physical abuse either you've been emotionally abused, I did have some time to kill around the house and I did decide to read up on mental problems, for my sake, and you do show signs of emotionally abuse." Streamhawk says.

Stalker sighs and says, "They put bars on his windows during the summer after his first year, before the start of the second year. That's also the year you said Dobby was stealing your mail and I recall how Ron complained to our parents about how you weren't answering your mail. Ron sulked a lot that summer until we hijacked our father's car to go get you. You think that our parents would have offered to take us for a visit, but if Dumbledore told them not to, they likely obeyed and never thought much about it. Though I know mom got real upset about the state you arrived in since she complained about how skinny you looked."

Guilt flares up inside but so does a righteous anger too. "The headmaster says that living at my relative's house will strength my mother's love protection since my aunt and cousin are blood related to me." Elkrider says and Streamhawk snorts before the warrior says, "Fat good that does when the Dark Lord used your blood to create his new body. It's clear that the protection no longer matters any more, I'm sure that if any of the pure-blood's ever get their heads out of their asses, they could look up and see if Lilly had a sister and find out where she lives in a muggle phonebook if I remember how Lilly explained how that works."

"Then why hadn't he attacked me while I was at my aunt's house?" Elkrider wonders and both of his party members laugh a blank kind of laugh. "It just goes to show how fearful the guy is of our dear headmaster and it likely helps that the man just might hold a tiny bit of fear in regards to you, Elkrider. I'm sure that in the years to come that fear will vanish but right now, it's there and he's reluctant to deal with you and is likely latching onto any reason not to confront you right off the bat." Streamhawk says and a questioning glance in Stalker's direction and the shaman nods in agreement, causing Elkrider to blink.

Elkrider feels a bit numb, finding it hard to imagine that Voldemort could be fearful of him, the Boy-Who-Lived. "That's a lot to take in." He admits and after that, they continued on in silence.

-(V)-

Remus Lupin

They arrived in another Native town, Remus once more acting as the group's leader, though he did rely on Leon to act as his second in command, Remus buys them a nights lodging using the necklaces they have collected as loot, though they did earn hostile looks from the town folk. Not that Remus blames them; after all, according to the Chief of the town, they've had white men raid their town and surrounding neighbouring villages in the pass as well as had to deal with their rogue metal beasts along side of their rogue spirits.

"Why do they keep giving us those looks? We haven't done anything to them!" James growls, showing his temper once again. "We're in an area where Europeans have raided time and again. We might not have done anything to warrant this reaction but as a whole, our fellow countrymen have caused these people some hardships and you've seen the ruins of two villages that were hit hard by small pox." Remus states as he repeats the same reasons in a different format as Mary and Leon nods in agreement.

"This game has some fragments of what actually happened, if you take away the concept of Europeans creating robots and most First Nations people not having access to magical spells." Mary muses with a sigh. "You know, this would be a great place to trap Voldie and his crew, maybe even add most of the ministry too." Leon muses thoughtfully as they arrived at one of the wooden lodges that they were directed to.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asks and Remus can't help but see what Leon's suggesting. "The problem would be getting all of their followers into the game." He says while Mary sighs. "That wouldn't be hard, didn't Harry sacrificed some piece of equipment for a guard dog?" Mary muses and Leon nods.

"Yea, he did. I think I get what you're on about." Leon says with a slow smile growing on his face while Remus smirks as he imagines the kind of impact that would cause, it was hard to feel sympathy for a government that kept passing laws that made it seemly impossible to find a job.

"As long as we put their registered name at the top corner it shouldn't be too hard." Mary muses while James gives them all sceptical looks. "Like hell it could ever be that easy, besides, you-know-who's name is made up, you'd have to research to find his actual name, which isn't bloody likely." James says.

"Actually James, we do know his actual name, Harry told us it after saving Ginny. Tom M. Riddle." Mary says and Remus blinks in surprise. "You mean the student that got that trophy in the case?" Leon asks and Mary nods. "Albus never to us his real name." Remus muses softly and Mary sighs.

"After having a good month to think about what if and could have beens, I think there are a lot of things Professor Dumbledore had the power to change but decide not too. Just look at this summer, if it won't for that Dementor attack, I doubt that Harry would have left as early as he did from his relatives place. He must have been miserable staying there without having more information on hand." Mary admits with a hint of shame couching at the edge of her tone.

"Well, until we find the other four items, we're not in any position to worry overly about such things." Remus says gently and most of the teens nod in understanding. "I'm going to see if I can find a place to bath in." James says once the soldier takes off his heavy pack and left his improved rifle with them.

"I wonder if he's jealous that Harry's with George." Leon muses and Ginny shrugs. "Wouldn't be the first time he's been jealous of either of you." The young red head says and Mary nods in agreement. "Well, I think I'll head off with James, I think it would be a good idea to stick around in pairs just in case something happens." Remus says once he, too, leaves his pack and gun in the hut, he heads off after the blond with the intent to make sure James didn't do anything rash.

-(V)-

Molly Weasley

As the wife of Arthur Weasley entered into the dinning hall to check on the game, the woman pauses as she spots two new sheets by the game board, it also looks as if somebody decided try something. She walks over and pales as she reads the top sheet that has the name of her only daughter on it.

"Oh no, oh Merlin no." She says as the greying woman picks up the character sheet and then looks at the second one that's behind Ginny's. As Molly turns to look at the figurines on the map, she finds two extra figurines with one of the parties.

It also takes her a few minutes to realise that both parties had moved from the positions they were last night, when she locked the room up. It only took a moment to leave the room before bellowing at the top of her lungs, **"ARTHUR! THE GAME HAS GINNY IN ITS CLUTCHES NOW!"**

As the portrait begins to bellow out curses and highly offensive phrases, her husband bellows out in alarm, **"HOW IN MERLIN'S NAME DID THAT HAPPEN?! ALBUS PROMISED THAT THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN! AND SHUT UP YOU OLD PRUNE BEFORE I TRY MY HAND AT DEMOLITION!"** Oddly enough, the portrait of the late Mrs Black does as she's been told and silence echoes through the house as Arthur Weasley comes thundering down the stairs to comfort his wife, Molly.

As Molly begins to cry into Arthur's chest as the man hugs her and says whatever came to mind to try and calm his wife down. They remain that way as Minerva appeared out of the fireplace and her husband just points the professor to dinning room. The elderly lady stiffens and gets a grim look on her face as she heads into the room, leaving the pair of Weasleys alone in the hallway once more.

-(V)-

Harry Potter – Elkrider

"Here comes the tough part." Elkrider hears Stalker mutter as they follow behind Streamhawk, his dog Ash gives a soft whine as they walk pass a dead body belonging to the Confederacy of the Hedihagia Nation, a group of four related tribes that speak the same language but have different customs and clans. They were traveling through the Okadene tribe's territory, the southern most tribe of the Confederacy but also one of the tribes living in the northern most part of the map.

It's been twenty eight days since the game started and they were getting close to the third item they needed, they believe that it's in this spawning lair of Rusty Copper Bears since that's what Stalker's spirit guide hinted at. This wasn't the first time they had to deal with the rogue metal beasts but it was their first encounter with the bears since they're use to dealing with Jolt Hounds.

"Be glad that they're not the Steel Plated Berserker Bulls, those won't take much damage from flint arrows or from canine teeth." Streamhawk hisses as softly as he can from his position up front. Elkrider hums softly in agreement as he reaches down to comfort his dog, Ash.

A hallow roar signals the charging metal construct. With a war cry of his own, Streamhawk charges to meet the metal thing head on. Elkrider notches an arrow to his bow string and takes aim at the crystal heart that's on the thing's head. The arrow sails through the air and hits one of the glowing eyes of the copper beast.

Stalker finishes his chant as Streamhawk tries to behead the beast looking machine. A bolt of blue lightning hits the copper bear, paralyzed the construct couldn't attack or defend itself as Elkrider shots it with another arrow, this time it bounces off of the crystal but cracks appear. Streamhawk's blow shatters the crystal, causing the rusty armour of the bear looking thing to fall off and for the 'skeleton' of the bear to vanish.

"You mean we get to loot the copper armour? We're going to be able to buy our way through this territory." Stalker says and Elkrider nods in agreement as they approach the loot. It's not long before what they received vanishes into their respective packs and they continue on their way through the tunnels to the heart of the spawning lair.

Elkrider was more then a little relieved by the fact that they didn't encounter a large number of the metal beasts beyond the pairs they did fight against. They were all relieved at how much healing and energy restorative herbs they had packed before entering into the cave system since they didn't take any time out to rest within the dungeon like setting.

As the party gazes at the center of the large cavern, Elkrider realises the major differences between rogue metal beasts and rogue spirits, unlike the spirits, metal beast lairs are surrounded by metal of the type the beast looking robots are constructed out of. This was their second rogue metal quest, the first was destroying a lair of two spawning den within sight of each other and were for Jolt Hounds.

With a sigh, Elkrider doesn't go for his bow and arrows but for his war club with Blessing of Storms on it, something Stalker thought would help him while the shaman used Blessings of Flint Chipper on Streamhawk's war club, very effective on the rock skinned Wi'Nun. This is also very effective against the rogue metal machines that Europeans of the game introduced in the Americas of this game.

"Ok, how are we going to do this?" Elkrider asks his party members and friends. "Well, I could always try Call of Fighters, we might get some spiritual assistance." Stalker suggests. "Wasn't that when we got that herd of nine black deer called Star Grazers?" Streamhawk muses.

"They did scatter those Jolt Hounds." Stalker says in his defence. "Yea, by fleeing from battle." Streamhawk counters and Elkrider steps in to keep them from arguing, since, for some reason when they're under stress, certain things seems to crop up, things that might have more to do with this world then anything.

"Think about it this way, we didn't have to worry about those thirty something Jolt Hounds until after we got rid of the twin spawning dens." He says calmly as his free hand moves through his freshly cut hair. Both humped but they didn't continue the argument though Elkrider could tell that they're both very nervous about this and therefore on edge.

"Give us a few seconds before starting up the chant, ok?" Elkrider asks the shaman of the group and after a few seconds, young Stalker nods in agreement and after signalling for Ash to guard Stalker. With a shared look, Streamhawk and Elkrider take off at a trot with their war clubs ready.

On sighting the enemy creations, Streamhawk and Elkrider scream out their war cries as the bear like entities give hallow roars as they charge at Streamhawk and himself. Everytime Elkrider's club hits one of the Rusty Copper Bears, lightning seems to flash from the club into the metal beast.

Though about every five or so hits, Elkrider would consume a health restorative herb to regain health. The scared trader noted that that warrior Streamhawk would consume one about every ten or so hits to his being. About a fifteen minutes into the fight, the area is engulfed in light and for a few seconds, the metal creations seemed to be stunned so Elkrider turns to see what's got their attention.

"That's what I call helping out." Elkrider hears Streamhawk say with satisfaction at the huge eagle like bird that seems to have lightning dancing around the surface of the feathers. "He summoned a Thunder Bird…" Elkrider says in awe and the mythical bird screeches before taking to the air.

With an eight foot wing span, it was the larges bird that any of them have ever laid eyes on. The Thunder Bird is a stormy grey in colour with streaks of white around the edge of the bird's chest feathers and under wing feathers while blue streaks appear on the top of the wing feathers. The great bird's eyes were yellow with the beak being a lighter blue then the highlights on the wings with talons looking ebony in colour.

Elkrider couldn't take his eyes off the Thunder Bird until the bird screeches once more and then within a flash, the bird transforms into bolts of lighting. The Rusty Copper Bear bellow out in hallow sounding pain as the lightning weakened every metal being within the cave before the lightning vanishes away into nothing.

"Alrighty then, let's clear them out." Streamhawk says and with an agreement nod, Elkrider joins the warrior in renewed assault on the rogue metal entities while he hopes that Stalker's ok…

By the time an hour has passed, Elkrider leaves Streamhawk to pick up the loot to check on their shaman. "I guess it took a lot out of you to summon it, huh?" Elkrider muses on spotting the sleeping Stalker as Ash wags his tail on seeing him.

Elkrider sighs as he takes out some water and drinks some of it as the trader realises how thirty he was. Elkrider cups his hand and pours some onto his hand so that Ash could get a drink, which the dog happily did.

"Found it!" Streamhawk calls out and Elkrider turns in his god-father's direction. "Which one is it this time?" Elkrider calls out once Ash finishes licking the water off of his hand.

"It looks to be a belt with purple and white bead work done up in square spirals." Streamhawk replies. "Hum, well, we'll just have to wait for Stalker to wake up to check the list." Elkrider says and he can see the warrior nod in agreement.

In the end, Elkrider lies down a bit from where Stalker's resting, he did take out a blanket and cover the teenage shaman with it before using his pack as a pillow for himself. After a few minutes of staring up at the cave ceiling, Elkrider drifted off to sleep.

- x – X – x –

"So then, where do we go from here?" Streamhawk asks Stalker while Elkrider finishes strapping a pack onto Ash. Stalker sighs before taking out the scroll that lists the items. Three out of the five items have been found which means just two more items before they're done.

As Stalker puts the scroll on the ground, the shaman takes out the three items, the first a copper necklace with an image of a canine on it which is why it's call the Collar of the Sky Dog, the second is a teal coloured crystal the size of a man's fist called the Seed of the Life Tree, and the last item they possess is called the Belt of the Cyclone. The last two items were listed as the Cape of the Spiderwoman and the final item is listed as the Beat of the Heart, which they think might be a drum.

Once Stalker has the three items arranged in a particular pattern, Stalker of Night Spirits begins to sing a song without using a rattle or a prayer stick, just a crow's feather. By the end of the chanting, Stalker lets go of the feather and they watch as it glows for a few seconds before it lands with the end pointing off in a southeast direction, pretty much how they located the belt's location.

"Southeast it is then." Streamhawk states as they all nod in agreement as Stalker then picks up the crow feather. "Makes you wonder if Ron and them have collected as many items as we have." Elkrider muses out of the blue as they head off in the direction the feather pointed in.

"Well, none of them chose to become traders so while we most likely have most of the items, they're at a much higher level since they're not just defending themselves from rogue entities but from the local tribes too." Stalker says and Streamhawk adds, "I think I like not having to sleep with one eye open in a cleared area." Elkrider can't help but hum in agreement with that, he's got enough trouble back home that he rather not add to it, even if this was just a fantasy role playing game.

-(V)-

Fred Weasley – Leon Benoit

Leon blinks as he feels something vibrate and after a few minutes of trying to ignore it, the Frenchman stops and begins to dig around in his belt pouch and finds that the scroll listing the items is what was vibrating. Which was pretty confusing since they only had three of the items they needed to complete the list and to return home.

"What's wrong?" Remus asks Leon as the other party members slow to a stop. "It's vibrating." The Frenchman replies as he unrolls the scroll. "Ok, it seems we don't need the items to win any more, our objective just changed, and now we just need to ambush the other party before they arrive at the Bluffs of Sky Fire." Leon informs the group.

"But there's only three people in that group." Mary muses while Ginny agrees, "Yea, just Harry, George, and Sirius. It doesn't seem to be a fair fight." Leon rolls the scroll up as he studies Remus and his younger brother for a time.

"Well, we could always decide what to do as we travel in that direction." Remus says slowly as James nods in agreement. "Then let's head to the closest village and ask for directions." Leon says as the young Engineer turns from their destination, signalling their metal mounts called Silver Steeds to alter their course.

True, before they enter into the village they'll have to dismantle their mounts about a few hours away from the village so they don't to offend those Natives living in the village. They react very violently to the sight of the metal 'abominations' that were mocking shadows of the local mythical beings that exist in this world.

"So then, it took Harry and them, what? Forty-three days to find all five items?" James wonders as they travel through the forest at a slow trot. "Yea, that sounds about right." Mary agrees. "It's likely due to the fact that they aren't pale in colour and speak the local languages with barely any trouble." Leon muses.

Nobody felt real chatty since they now so much closer to their goal then ever before. After all, how high a level could the three reach without being forced into constant combat be it with the rogue monsters or with local population?

-(V)-

Harry Potter – Elkrider

It's been ten days since they got all the items on their list and they now have to worry about encountering an ambush set by Ron, Hermione, and Fred as they head to the bluffs. Although Elkrider is fairly confident that as long as they travel though villages as they head towards their target destination, they'd get an advanced warning of any Europeans in the area.

Ideally, Elkrider muses over how well their plans will go over when they talk with the other three teens, after all, Elkrider never wants to have to deal with the English Ministry of Magic ever, especially after what happened with the Dementor. The very thought of leaving England caused mixed feelings but in the end, he had nothing but bad memories of his homeland and if Streamhawk's right then he'd be welcome in a lot of different countries just to on up the English Ministry.

While Elkrider knew he better get use to being an international star, he can't help but wish things had turned out differently. But as long as they remain in England they remain not only under Fudge's thumb but under Dumbledore's heavy hand and his constant perching of the 'Greater Good'. Elkrider would love for all of those responsible for the miseries in his life to somehow just vanish someplace and never return. After all, the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

With a sigh, Elkrider rolls over onto his left side; his gaze now stares at a trunk of some tree instead of the oddly black sky that lacks the usual consolations in the night sky. The young scarred man tries to push his thoughts out of his mind so that he can fall asleep.

- x – X – x –

"Remus? Moony!" Streamhawk calls out as they spot a group of Europeans that made up the other party. "Is that Ginny?" Stalker asks dumbly as the warrior of their party races up to greet his old friend.

Ash barks again as the metal steeds carry the five opposite party down towards them. Elkrider moves to where Ash stands and strokes the dog's head to quiet the canine. "Sirius? Is that you?" Elkrider hears most of the opposing party say in startlement.

"George?" Calls out the youngest man in the company and Stalker then take a step or two forward, studying the black haired man. "Fred is that you?" Stalker of Night Spirits asks and the man grins before getting off the metal horse to embrace his twin.

"Harry? Bloody hell mate, what happened to your face?" The blond man asks causing him to blink for a second before realising that the man, Ron, was talking about his face. "I included it as a facial feature." Elkrider says with a shrug.

"And the dog?" The older red head who's likely Hermione asks. "I switched out my beginning war club for him." Elkrider replies. "I didn't know you could do that." Ron muses and Elkrider can't help but snort as he rolls his eyes while shaking his head. "If anyone other then myself read all of the manuals then I'm sure somebody in your party could have informed you." Elkrider replies.

"So, I kind of forgot the names you guys chose for your characters." Elkrider admits once the three who were suppose to be his age-mates get closer. "Ron chose James Hunter, I chose Mary Dennison while Ginny's playing herself as a settler slash trapper." Hermione admits. "And Fred chose Leon Benoit. So, what about you? What did you name your character?" Ginny asks.

"I'm Elkrider, George picked Stalker of Night Spirits, Stalker for short, and Sirius decided on Streamhawk. The dog I named Ash." Elkrider says, giving the canine a small grin, he never had any pets growing up so long as he's in this game, Ash is his pet. Hedwig didn't really count since she doesn't rely on him for her food or for much really, kind of feline like in that respect, not that Elkrider is displeased with having her continually return to him, day after day, week after week, etc. It's just that if he were to ask her to stay away for a solid month, she wouldn't suffer any doing so since she's more then equipped to take care of herself.

"So then, what's new with you?" Ron asks Elkrider and the trader grins slightly before motioning for them to join him as he sits down under a tree.

-(V)-

Molly Weasley

It's been almost three whole days since her youngest children were pulled into the game. Molly couldn't help but cry every so often at the thought of what kind of trouble her babies were going through.

So when a shout of, "Oh bloody hell, what a way to travel, huh?" Coming from the dinning room, tears begin to well up in her eyes as she 'imagines' her youngest son, Ron, saying that. "Ron! Be careful with those! We just finished a game; we don't want to start a new one as soon as we got back." Molly hears the imaginary Hermione scold Ron.

"Don't worry Hermione; I think the game map turned off once we were through the portal." Molly imagines Harry say. "Then let's get it packed up while I start on that letter." Sirius says and Molly could feel something wet drip down her cheeks.

"Hey Molly, do you know if Albus moved my parchment, quill, and ink pot?" Molly heard an illusion ask. "I don't this so." Molly manages to chock out while her throat tightens.

"Ginny! You're mom's in the kitchen!" Harry calls out as the young teen stands at the doorway. "Mom!" Her daughter calls out as she bursts into the room from the hallway, hugging her.

Its about then did Molly allow herself to cry as she hugs her daughter, its not long before her sons enter into the kitchen. She moves to give each of them a hug as Molly lets go of her emotions, glad that her children are alright.

-(V)-

Harry Potter

"Are you ready?" Sirius asks him softly as Harry rubs the grit from his eyes before putting on his glasses. As Harry stifles a yawn, the young wizard nods as he moves out of the nice warm bed, his feet touches the chilly floor, already he wishes that he could leave while lying in the bed.

Sirius levitates his trunk with Hedwig's cage on top of it. The trunk trails after them as they head out of the room. Harry notices the goods that Sirius had rounded up, stuff that his god father wouldn't mind leaving but decided that its safer to sell them in France then to try and get his family fortune transferred to a French branch of the wizard bank since that signals their intent among other things.

Harry smiles slightly as Sirius takes out the port key that the French government had sent them. Though firstly, they'll be dealing with healers before they could met with the minister, though the head of the policing service of the French Ministry has ask for Sirius's memories of what happened between Peter and himself so that they could be reviewed and examined.

They'd have a rest and settle down period before they'll be asked to take some truth potions for their statements about what happened during his third year as well as what happened at the end of his fourth year. It also didn't come to Harry's surprised that he's expected to take a few placement tests to see where he's at before they talk about his schooling.

Most of these demands were very reasonable which was why they now possess this port key. Hedwig was staying with the Delacours until they arrive at the family's home later that day. Harry's glad that Fleur's family didn't mind that they may be spending this coming evening with them before they head to the house that their government had arranged for them.

Making sure he's touching his trunk as he reaches to touch the empty box of candies that's been charmed into a port key. The jerk in his belly happens once more and within seconds, Harry is thrown off of his feet as they arrive at the hospital that they're to receive their check ups in.

"I'm beginning to hate port keys." Harry says as he picks himself up from the floor. "Yes, they do take some getting use to, don't they?" One of the healers says while the lead healer walks up to shake his hand. "Healer Jabulani at your service Mr Potter, Mr Black." Harry blinks as he takes the man's hand, he blinks as he realises that Healer Jabulani's skin colour reminds him of milk chocolate as Healer Jablani's hazel eyes sparkle in mirth.

Harry likes the man already as he smiles shyly up at Healer Jablani's face. "It's nice to be here, sir." The teenage wizard says and Healer Jablani then moves to shake Sirius's hand. "Fairly nice looking room you got here, Healer." Harry's god father says with an easy grin on his face, causing Harry to study the room they found themselves in.

"Are those all…?" Harry asks and one of the other healers finish his sentence, " Really bones? Yes they are, I'm Healer Noemi by the way." An elderly looking healer, someone who reminds Harry of the school nurse, says as she motions for him to follow her. "Come, we'll see to your eyes first and then I'll turn you over to one of my male co-workers to do a physical." Healer Noemi says with a slight grin on her face while Harry blushes as he heads out of the room who's wall surface seems to be made out of bones.

-(V)-

Sirius Black

"Mr Black, we have to ask you some questions regarding young Mr Potter." Healer Jablani says in a slow manner that causes alarm bells to go off inside of his head. "What's wrong with my god son?" Sirius demands as his shoulders sag.

"I'm afraid to be the one to inform you that you're god son has had a few bouts of scurvy when he was younger. We have potions to fix it but, I have to ask you this, were you taking care of the boy back then?" Healer Jablani asks and it takes Sirius a few seconds before his eyes narrow and he growls, "No, but you already know that. Dumbledore left Harry with his mother's sister who's a muggle. I know she didn't like magic but to…" Sirius closes his eyes as he realises that he can't do anything to the pair of muggles.

Healer Jablani sighs as he nods in understanding, "I'll put that on record then, but we had to make sure. Now then, do you know of any ways that young Mr Potter might have become exposed to hazardous potions? It seems that some idiot randomly mixed a dozen potions ingredients together and splattered small amounts of what resulted of such actions on young Harry. It'll take time for us to fix it, but we want to file a grievance charge with the international potion guild as well as report it to the international health board to keep it from happening to others."

Sirius snorts on hearing that. "The only time Harry's been around such a situation is during his potion class with Snape while he was attending Hogwarts." He informs the healer. "I can ask for more information from Harry right now if you'll take me to him." Sirius says and the healer nods thoughtfully at that.

"This is a minor detail but now that we have established that you weren't a part of his childhood, I want to inform you that Mr Potter's muggle relatives never bothered to take Harry to get his eye glass prescription updated regularly. We're just waiting for one of you to pick out some frames before we begin on creating the correct lens." Healer Jablani tells Sirius. "I also take it his bones were brittle and that lead some of them to be easily breakable?" Sirius asks.

"That's correct, we're not even sure how they managed to heal as correctly as they are. I take it that his only regular healer would be the one at Hogwarts?" Healer Jablani asks and Sirius nods. "I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore kept her from reporting them. After all, the man believed that as long as Harry lived with his aunt that he was safe from harm. It seems that Albus hadn't considered that his own blood relatives would be so objecting to Harry's presence." Sirius states in a very controlled tone.

"Yes, we have a very good idea of what young Mr Potter's childhood was like just from his body. I would have to say that you did a very responsible thing, leaving your country where Harry's abusers live. I'm not just talking about Mr Potter's blood relatives either." Healer Jablani says and Sirius nods, if Snape had been here…

"Come, I'm sure young Harry's waiting for you." Healer Jablani says and leads Sirius out of the room, into the hall. They walk in silence as Sirius mulls over everything that Jablani has said and had left unspoken.

"Sirius!" Harry calls out as the teen finishes pulling his shirt over his head. "Hey, pup, how was your examines? Have you looked at the frame catalogue yet?" Sirius says with a slight smile on his face, trying not to break down and hug the breath out of the teen while begging for Harry's forgiveness over handing him over to Hagrid.

"Not yet, they want me to drink some potions before I leave the room." Harry says with a sour look erupting on his face by the end, causing Harry to look younger then his actual age. "What's wrong?" Harry finally asks in an exasperated way after studying Healer Jablani and Sirius.

"Drink the potions first, then while we're looking for a pair of frames we'll discuss it." Sirius promises and Harry nods after studying him for a few seconds. Sirius can't help but think that Dumbledore's plans for the school year had just gone out the window and that the window has long since been bolted shut and covered with curtains.

Sirius muses about what his options were in getting them out of his childhood home while he waits for Harry to finish drinking the potions that the healers have prescribed to help fix the damage done to his body.

-(V)-

Hermione Granger

It's been about a month since Harry and Sirius had immigrated to France and the school year had gotten off to a dismal start now that the Ministry of Magic had sent one of its lackeys to the school as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

It's noon and Hermione blinks as a screech owl flies towards her. The owl drops a letter in her lap before flying off, Hermione blinks for a second as she watches the owl fly out the window and then picks up the letter. Excitement bubbles in her as she realises that the letter is from Harry, though the name on it was Elkrider.

"What is it?" Ron asks as she opens the letter up and begins to read it. "Oh no…" Hermione says softly as she skims through the letter. Then as Ron asks, "What's wrong?"

Hermione bites her lower lip as she looks up to stare first at her friend and then around the table before swallowing hard. "I think we might want to go talk with Madame Pomfrey and if what 'Elkrider' says is true then, Snape had been…" She says as she grabs her book bag, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of what kind of harm Snape has been doing since he started working.

"What's the rush, Hermione?" Fred asks as she walks pass. "Fred, George, get Ginny and I'll met you three up at the medical wing." She informs the pair as Ron catches up. "Has something happened to… Elkrider?" George asks.

"Not just to him, but to all of us if he's sources are right." Hermione says before leading Ron out of the Great Hall, heading straight for the medical wing. Either of them said anything as they arrive in the hospital wing.

"Madame Pomfrey, I have something for you to read." Hermione says as she separates the last page of the letter and hands it to the med-witch. Hermione watches as Madame Pomfrey grows pale and stiff. "I see. Should I be expecting more patients for testing?" Madame Pomfrey asks and she nods.

"Fred, George, and Ginny were the only ones I asked to join us up here." Hermione says, feeling dizzy at she finally realises that there's something to Harry's instructions. "Very well then, I'll begin with you first, Ms Granger and then Mr Weasley until they join us." Madame Pomfrey says and then directs them to different beds.

By the time Fred and George have arrived with Ginny following a few minutes later, Madame Pomfrey was already summoning Healers from St. Mungos to examine them. While waiting for the other Weasleys to arrive, Hermione begins to really read the letter that Harry sent. She can't help but feel hope that Dumbledore gets what's coming to him since he's the one who kept defending Snape's position as their Potions instructor.

-(V)-

Lucius Malfoy

Sitting in his study, the patron of the Malfoy family pauses in his writing as a barn owl enters into the study through a window and lands on his desk clutching a letter in its beak. With an annoyed sigh, Lucius takes the letter from the white owl, the owl then launches itself into the air, heading out of the open window, leaving the head of the Malfoy family to read the contains of what had better be an important letter.

As his eyes skim over the official greetings, he notes that the letter came from Fudge. At the word 'sterile' Lucius reads after that point and by the time he's done the paragraph, he feels a cold rage set in and he goes back to the beginning of the letter, even rereading the paragraph that describes how ten percent of the students at Hogwarts have been tested sterile, what galls him is that all of those students were pure-blooded children as he reads the list provided by the idiot puppet of his.

A hint of relief erupts in his breast as he notes that his son wasn't listed under this, though Neville Longbottom was among those under that particular list. Though his heir was listed under those that have had been affected with other internal organs problems, but at least he can expect a grandchild when the boy weds.

Finally the lists end and Fudge reports who's being blamed for such an epidemic. While Dumbledore's name is listed, it's his old friend Severus Snape whose name keeps popping up as Fudge quotes an official statement from a healer most likely since he's fairly sure the idiot couldn't possibility know half the large words, let alone know what they mean.

"There will be hell to pay, oh yes, you will pay Snape." The head of the Malfoy family states with a great deal of venom oozing from his tone as Malfoy reaches out for his cane before stalking over to the fireplace to give his puppet instructions on how to deal with the situation.

-(V)-

Harry Potter

"Dobby." Harry calls out and within seconds the house elf appears. "Yes, Mr Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asks and Harry bites the bottom of his lip but resolves to say, "I don't suppose you know where I can get another game like the one you gave me for my birthday, you see, I don't want to taint your gift but I need something similar to it to get rid of some rotten people."

Dobby perks up and then begins to think about this as Harry waits. True, he wouldn't mind using Guns and Arrows for this task but if those looking for whose responsible test the game, it's more then likely that they would have noticed the game sheets for character made by Fudge, Tom M. Riddle, and Albus Dumbledore and he would likely be charged with murder of those three individuals.

After all, the French Ministry had asked for details after noticing some old looking charms on the game and it had taken about an hour to explain about how it works, how to play it, and that he wasn't looking to manufacture copies of the game but he was willing to rent it out.

"Dobby think Dobby can find another game like Mr Harry Potter's gift. Shall Dobby go now to fetch it?" Dobby asks, eyes shining with excitement for helping him out. "If you don't have anything better to do, then yes please. Also thank you Dobby for the first game again, I can't wait to play it again." Harry says with a soft smile on his face.

As Dobby beams and puffs out his chest in pride before vanishing, Harry can't help but like the house elf. Sure, Dobby's idea of saving his life was sending a Bludger after him during a game but at least the house elf was up front about it. It also helped to be able to lay blame for Dobby's behaviour on the Malfoys since that's who Dobby was living with back then, before they ever met.

A while later founds Harry reading one of his course books; he's slowly getting use to actually being able to read the words on the page without getting a headache, which was likely due to the fact that he never got a new prescription after his aunt and uncle had bought the glasses that first time around.

"Dobby found another game!" Dobby calls out as the house elf appears about two feet from where he's sitting. "Great, does it have the same enchantments as the other one?" Harry asks as he puts a bookmark in the book before closing it.

"Dobby believes so. Can Dobby do anything else for the great Harry Potter?" Dobby asks and Harry can't help but feel like a low down bug as he looks into Dobby's big, wide eyes starting at him with a great deal of hero worship. "Well, you can stick around and help me set up the game you brought me." He says and Dobby's eyes seem to well up as the house elf nod his head rapidly as Dobby sniffles as a soft sob erupt from his throat.

It took over half an hour to calm Dobby down as Dobby wails about how he's never helped set up a game before. Harry wisely bites the tip of his tongue to keep from offering to have Dobby join him in a game. He rather deal with that at another place, another time.

The game that Dobby brought wasn't made in the same decade as Guns and Arrows but seems to be made by the same family of game makers. "The Underworld, death is life." Harry muses as he uses a cleaning charm to get the grim off of the box's surface. At the top of the box there were images of a party of armed zombies fighting creatures that were also armed, though some of them look more humanoid with horns growing out of their heads, their backs having bat like wings, and thin whip like tails coming out of their rear ends.

Dobby makes a face at the images depicted as Harry takes the top lid off. Inside of the wooden box were leather bound manuals, ten tiny figurines made out of black marble, and for the game board, a small cube. There's an instruction booklet for the small cube.

As Dobby picks up one of the tiny figurines, Harry picks up the booklet and a slight grin grows on his face as he realises that the cube was the game board and that unlike with Guns and Arrows, this game was multilevel, allowing for a minimum of four different environmental levels with the ability of choosing not just the races but non playable characters as well as the ability to have some kind of major settlement that rules over that particular level. They can have up to fifteen different environmental levels with up to two major settlements on each. The maximum number of the NPC were the same number as in one's party, which was ten.

So as Dobby goofs off with the figurines, Harry reads of the more various modes that the game could be played in. A slow smile grows as Harry finds the perfect mode to use for his three test subjects.

- x – X – x -

"Ok, Tom M. Riddle's character sheet for zombie Voldiemort. Let's see, exchanged thirteen health stats for Wand of Summoning Marked Followers Above Seventeen Years of age, check. Next exchanged twelve agility stats for the Pendent of the Full Soul, check. Ok traded all the weapons for Rode of Plus Thirty Stats, check. Used all the money to buy food supplies and on cures, check." Harry reads out loud as he waits for Dobby to return.

"Ok, next sheet belongs to Cornelius Fudge for zombie Minister Fudge. Let's see, traded all of the weapons for Wand of Summoning Corrupted Members of Magical British Government, check. Next, used all money to buy food supplies and on cures, check." Harry say to himself as he smirks as he could just imagine Fudge's reaction when he finds himself without any kind of weapons other then that wand to summon minions.

"Dobby brought endless bucket of popcorn and endless glasses of grape soda." Dobby the house elf says as Harry's about to review Dumbledore's profile. Harry blinks and can't help but cock his head. "Really? They'll never be empty of popcorn and soda?" He asks and Dobby replies, "They're only charmed to work for a week, to activate just tap with it with a wand."

"Sounds promising, so, Dobby, would you do the honours of starting our entertainment?" Harry asks as he hands the pages over to his smaller companion. "Dobby would be happy to, Mr Potter." Dobby says, trying to mimic Dumbledore's tone and pitch as Dobby takes the pages and places them on the table.

What once was a small cube the reminded Harry of a dice, the cube is now three feet in size with ten different environmental levels for the party to walk through, ones that Dobby and he had clobbered together. As Dobby summons three of the figurines, Harry gets comfortable on the couch, waiting for the metal projector to do its job.

A simple tap of his wand causes the glass closest to him to activate, within seconds it's filled up with purple bubbling soda. Another tap and the bowl fills up with popcorn and a tap on the last glass causes that one to fill up with soda as well. The metal magical projector starts up, out of the corner of his eye, Harry watches as a metal frame moves over the cube.

Dobby takes a chair not far from his position on the couch. With a snap of Dobby'll fingers and the room darkens slight, allowing the projection to become easier to see as they watch as their three stars are dropped out of the air, hitting the ground with a thud.

"_What the… Dumbledore! I should have known, I'll have you arrested for this!"_ Fudge screams as the man takes out his wand and takes a few steps towards the elderly looking zombie. "Oddly brave isn't he?" He muses and Dobby hums in agreement.

"_Enough of this foolishness, __**Avada Kedavra!"**_The whizzing voice of Voldie declares pointing his wand at the soon to be ex-Minister of Britain. Instead of a bright green light hitting Fudge, a light flashes and suddenly all of Voldie's followers emerge out of the ground as brown and black skeletons, their health states lower then their master's.

'_My lord, where are we?"_ One of the brown skeletons cry out, the cry is hollow in nature since they don't have any voice box or a set of lungs. The jaws didn't even move as they began to wail out questions, names were shouted out and Harry chuckles as looks of horror erupt on their stars' freshly faces. "Fudge's going to summon his minions now!" Dobby says, causing him to look from Dumbledore's face to watch as another bunch of bleached white skeletons claw their way out of the ground.

"I wonder why these ones are white…" Harry wonders as the scene begins to repeat itself once more. "_Dear Merlin, where are we?"_ Dumbledore wonders as the zombie backs away from the crowds of brown, black, and white skeletons. The zombie's face more white then it had been before as the man tries to find something to help in this situation and only finding a roll of parchment that outlines their goals.

"Dobby wonders if the rotten meanies will read parchment." The house elf wonders and Harry shrugs as the two types of skeletons begin to fight among themselves. "Too bad that as long is Dumbledore is… 'alive', it'll be impossible for the other two to kill each other." Harry muses and Dobby replies, "If they kill each other right away, then Dobby and Harry Potter would have to find something new to do." Harry hums as he drinks some of his soda as he eats some of the popcorn from the bowl. Wondering how long it'll take before Sirius and Remus joins them.

-(V)-

Epilogue

"Look what Harry sent us!" Fred calls out to his brother. "Oh? And what did he send?" George calls out from the backroom. "It's a game called The Underworld." Fred calls out and George comes out of the backroom as Fred takes off the lid.

"Looks interesting, looks like Harry's put something here for us to read though." George says as he takes the letter as Fred takes out one of the game manuals. "Well, well, well, I think we just found out what happened to our dear Headmaster, Minister, and etc." George says with an odd smile on his face.

"Oh?" Fred asks and George hands the letter over and Fred nods thoughtfully once he's done reading it. "Then we'll just have to be careful not to use Survival mode then." Fred says with a smile mirroring his twin's.

"Right on, now then, shall we open our shop up or not?" George asks and Fred chuckles as he puts the leather bound manual and letter back into the box before putting the lid on it. "Open away, George, open away." Fred says as he picks up the wooden box to put it behind the counter, out of sight as his brother moves to flip the sign over to signal that they're now open.

- o 0 o -

To Readers:

I would like to say that the idea for this fiction came to me while reading **Towers and Titans** by Chibi-Reaper and then I borrowed the idea of the health problems caused during potion class from reading chapter 93 of **Odd Ideas** by Rorschach's Rot.

PS – Gentle note to review please!


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